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Saturday, June 7, 2008

Hufflepuff/Slytherin Quiz

The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins have been taking Care of Magical Creatures together this year, so this assignment is for both Houses to complete.

Professor Hagrid has asked for 6 inches of parchment (say 200 words) about a personal experience you've had with a magical creature (outside of Hogwarts), or about the magical creature you'd most like to have as a pet. Of course if you chose the latter option, you should write about why you'd like to have such a creature as a pet, but also the potential problems of domesticating that magical creature.

When my sister Avada and I were seven years old, the family had taken holiday down in Somerset to visit the Modesty Rabnott Golden Snidget Reservation. The reservation was named for Modesty Rabnott and was set up in the fourteenth century in order to protect the rapidly declining Snidget population.

Snidgets are small, spherical birds with amazing flying abilities and are extremely rare. These birds have amazing agility and can change speed and direction almost instantaneously. This is because of the rotational joints of its wings. They have golden feathers and glistening jewel-like red eyes. The birds were highly prized and were hunted to almost extinction. They were also used in Quidditch matches with the bird usually dying when caught.

Back in 1269, the Chief of the Wizard's Council, Barbeus Bragge had attended a Quidditch match in Kent and had offered 150 Galleons to anyone who caught the Golden Snidget which he released onto the pitch. That would be the same as over a million Galleons today. Madam Modesty Rabnott of Kent had run onto the quidditch field to protest the abuse of the small, defenseless bird. She saved the Snidget by capturing it with a Summoning Charm which she then released into the wild. Sadly she was fined 10 Galleons for her actions as Bragge was furious that she had disrupted the game. Modesty was then forced to sell her house to pay the fine and then moved in with her sister Prudence in Aberdeen.

As a result of this incident, it had become practice to catch a live Snidget as part of the game. A new player, the Hunter/Seeker, was added to the Quidditch team to capture and kill the Snidget. In order to honor the memory of the 150 Galleons offered by Bragge, there would be 150 points awarded for the capture of the Snidget. Because the incident changed the game of Quiddich forever, Bragge now appears on a Famous Wizard Card.

During the fourteenth century, the Snidget population rapidly declined due to the popularity of the sport. The bird was then made a protected species. A metal-charmer from Godric's Hollow, Bowman Wright came up with the idea of a fake Snidget which he called the Golden Snitch. It would be the same size and weight as the Snidget and was bewitched to follow the flight patterns of the bird. It was also charmed to stay within the confines of the Quidditch Pitch.

The bird was declared a protected species by Elfrida Clagg, Chief of the Wizard's Council. There are severe penalties for the harming or capture of the bird. Nowadays, the Golden Snitch has replace the Snidget in Quidditch matches.